Peter Dohm wrote:



I have read somewhere that most midair collisions are "fender benders" and
that the aircraft land safely and go on to fly again. We mostly hear of the
most spectacular accidents--just as we do with cars and trucks.

When I was at GFK, home of UND, I was working the day one Piper Cadets
prop sawed the stabilator of another in mid air. There were about 25 or
so slices, approax 3 inches long the full length of the stab. Neither
pilot reported a collision and both dummied up after landing and talking
to their parents/lawyers. It wasn't until the next set of students came
out to preflight their planes that the tail damage was discovered. They
then realized it was a midair because of how close together the slices
were. A little more investigation found the other aircraft on the ramp
with the paint from the stab on its prop.